


La Petite Mort

by frogfather



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Band Fic, Bass Guitarist Naruto, Bass Guitarist Shikamaru, Bisexual Uzumaki Naruto, Childhood Friends, Drummer Sakura, Drunken Flirting, Eventual Smut, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Guitarist Ino, Guitarist Sai, I'm just too lazy to list them all, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Most of the main characters are there, Multi, Naruto is Just Naruto, Not Actually Unrequited Love, One-Sided Attraction, One-Sided Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto, Out of Character, Porn with Feelings, Pretending to Be Gay, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Uchiha Itachi Being a Good Brother, Uchiha Sasuke Being an Asshole, but only slightly - Freeform, jealous hinata, lead singer sasuke
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:27:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23932303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frogfather/pseuds/frogfather
Summary: There’s something relaxing about the rushing and the energy before a show. Naruto is almost always full of enough energy to have him practically bouncing off of the fucking walls, and Ino’s is never not raring to go, rushing around to fix her makeup or grab another glass of whatever it is she’s drinking at the moment. Even Shikamaru is pretty energetic. Sasuke thinks that he may be the only one not in a constant state of movement, always just resting instead on one of the couches backstage or fiddling with one of the instruments they travel with.-AKA Band AU with a little too much fan service and a concerningly obsessive fangirl Hinata.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Yamanaka Ino, Jiraiya/Tsunade (Naruto), Nara Shikamaru/Temari, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto, implied Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 3
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

There’s something relaxing about the rushing and the energy before a show. Naruto is almost always full of enough energy to have him practically bouncing off of the fucking walls, and Ino’s is never not raring to go, rushing around to fix her makeup or grab another glass of whatever it is she’s drinking at the moment. Even _Shikamaru_ is pretty energetic. Sasuke thinks that he may be the only one not in a constant state of movement, always just resting instead on one of the couches backstage or fiddling with one of the instruments they travel with.

Usually he prefers just to sing, can’t keep his thoughts straight if he’s trying to focus on playing _and_ singing all at once, but he still plays, occasionally. There’s a keyboard that he always makes sure they take with them on tour so that he’s got it with him; he barely touches it, only when he’s completely bored out of his mind or he’s struggling to write anything good.

His vision comes back into focus as he raises his head, looking over to where Naruto’s walking into the room, fully dressed and made up by the makeup artists that Ino insisted they hire for their shows. It’s the same look as usual, for the most part; excessive amounts of bright orange eyeshadow packed onto his eyelids, and under them too, like streaks of orange paint. His eyes are lined in a thick layer of black eyeliner, smudged out to blend with the orange. His bangs are held back and out of his face by tiny little black hair clips, his blue eyes uncovered and staring directly at Sasuke.

Naruto’s wearing a pair of jeans he’s seen him in so many times that he’s started to lose count, the light denim riddled with so many holes that you could barely even consider them actual pants anymore. “Hey, bastard. Take a picture, it’ll last a little longer,” Naruto spits at him, though he’s smiling, face lacking any actual aggression or annoyance. The scars on his cheeks bend around his wide grin, exposing sharp white teeth. “You gonna get ready, or are you gonna sit there and sulk like somebody just kicked your puppy?”

Sasuke throws his head back against the couch he’s slumped down in, groaning as he raises a hand and flicks him off. “I can do whatever the fuck I want,” He says calmly, closing his eyes. “Don’t come in here talking to me like that.” Naruto just laughs at him, and he feels the couch dip beside him. 

He cracks open an eye, peeking over at Naruto where he’s sitting next to him, hands tucked behind his head as he smiles. “We go on, soon, you know,” He informs him with a golden brow raised. “Not bossing you around. Just warning you.” 

There’s a moment's silence, a slight pause in the shit spewing from Naruto’s mouth, before he adds on just under his breath, “God knows how pissy you’ll be when you find out you’ve got seven minutes to get ready and have to run around like a damn mad man.”

Naruto snickers beside him, and then Sasuke’s lifting a hand and pushing him with enough force to knock him over. He just barely catches himself, groaning and pouting like a little kid as he glares at him. “You’re such a shithead, you know that?” He whines, standing up and tugging the hem of his shirt back down. 

He flinches when the hard toe of Naruto’s platform boots connects with one of his shins. “ _Fuck!_ What the hell?” He shouts, sitting up straight and glaring directly up at his looming form. “You wanna call _me_ a shithead? I will knock your skull in with your own guitar-”

“Enough! Dear god, I leave for five minutes!” He hears some interject, turning to find Sakura standing with hands on her hips and looking like she’d been dragged to hell and back. “You two have _no_ problem acting friendly on stage. Why the hell can’t you do it _off_ stage?” He sees Naruto shrug out of the corner of his eye, shoving hands into his back jean pockets. 

“Dunno. I like pissing him off,” He says simply as the corner of his mouth twitches upwards.

Sasuke turns his head to face him, and Naruto just smirks down at him. The slight quirk of his lips has his blood boiling, makes him want to punch him in the jaw. It wouldn’t be the first time that they’ve fought. They’d only ever been serious once, whenever they’d sent each other to the hospital with how badly they’d beaten the shit out of each other. He could barely remember what they’d actually fought over, just knows that he’d broken his nose and Naruto had broken two of his ribs _and_ his hand. 

He recalls Sakura having to break them up, having to stop Sasuke where he was straddling Naruto and about ready to slam his head into the concrete. He’d been sorry, afterwards. _Really_ fucking sorry, especially since Naruto had been even more hurt than he was by the end of, but Naruto had shrugged him off, claiming that the adrenaline rush had been worth the injuries.

It had sounded suspicious, concerning even, coming from Naruto, but he didn’t have the right to ask. It was Naruto’s business, not his.

That was the one, and hopefully _only_ time, that he and Naruto had ever gotten out of hand, but he’s begun to lose count of how many minor disagreements they’ve had. Most of them ended up with one storming out in anger or someone getting punched once or twice, never anything more. 

Sakura was always there to break it up, just like she is now. 

“Sasuke, go get ready. Naruto, go get your bass and talk to Shikamaru,” Sakura says, as if _she’s_ the leader of the band and not Sasuke. He listens anyways, forcing himself to stand up and not so gently pushing past Naruto.

One of their makeup artists is already waiting for him, cleaning up her workspace and getting stuff set up. She glances up at him, smiling softly as he slips into the chair, and she’s quick to pin his bangs back and out of his face. Her hands are gentle as she works, quickly, but not too rushed so as not to make it look messy.

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, already feeling exhausted. He knows the tiredness will disappear the second he’s on stage. Being around such a large crowd gives him a rush, and keeping up his stage act with Naruto is like a damn drug. Once he gets into it he feels a lot more awake, ready to do just about anything. He blames it on Naruto’s natural tendency to make everyone around him feel better in general. 

Sasuke lets the woman finish up before he stands and makes his way over to his make-shift room to get ready in. It’s dimly lit, his bag tossed onto a chair and packed full of his belongings. He digs through it for a few moments, searching for his phone and checking the time. 

It’s only about 8:45, meaning he has fifteen minutes left to get himself together before they’re going to need to get out on stage. 

Up against the wall is a garment rack full of different clothing items. He reaches for whatever shit they’d planned out for them, _very_ reluctantly grabbing his shirt. Sasuke wasn’t even very sure that it was even a shirt anymore, actually. It was a mesh material, almost like a net, riddled with holes, and cropped a little too short for his liking. 

There’s a long fur coat hanging up too, and a pair of _ridiculously_ short shorts that Sasuke’s just a little bit afraid to even touch. And to top it all off, there’s fucking garters attached to them.

He contemplates firing the idiot who picked everything out. Maybe he could find a different pair of pants or something, but he’s running out of time and he doesn’t want to hear everyone else’s bitching about it.

Sasuke closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and forces himself to reach for the clothes so that he can get changed. 

It’s damn near painful to put everything on, makes him feel way too exposed for him to feel comfortable for the duration of the show, and he’s bound to freeze his ass off outside, even with the inorganic heat of the lights beaming down on them. 

On the floor beside the rack is a pair of boots, the same ones that he wears for almost every show, just like the others. It was a small symbol for the band, heavy platform boots with only varying details like color or height depending on who it was. His were plain black, soles only about an inch and a half thick. In comparison to Sakura’s or Ino’s, his were boring and plain. The two girls had gone for knee high boots, Sakura’s bright pink and Ino’s a light shade of purple, and when they put them on they were a good three or four inches taller.

Naruto’s were bright orange, _unsurprisingly_ , Sai’s were dark red, and then Shikamaru had gone for simple black ones similar to Sasuke’s. It was just a tiny little feature for them all that they’d decided on before they’d ever really blown up, and it held too much meaning to let go of it now.

Sasuke eyes the boots carefully, hating the way that the cold air feels on his bare legs as he bends down to grab them. They take a few moments to put on, tying the laces as tight as possible because he knows that he’s going to need to or else he risks breaking his damn ankles on stage.

He hears a knock on his door, and he doesn’t bother to lift his head as he calls whoever it is in. It’s Ino, surprisingly enough, her blond hair tied half up and falling in waves down her back as she stares at Sasuke. “Haha- Oh, _fuck_ . Who picked _that_ out for you?” She says, covering her mouth to hide her grin. “Naruto is going to make fun of you for that for _ages_. You sure they didn’t mix up your stuff with Sakura’s?” Ino teases him, shifting her weight onto one foot and placing a hand on her hip.

“If you came in here to laugh at me, then get out,” He deadpans, which only seems to make her giggle harder. “What do you want?”

“We go on in five. Get your ass up,” Is all she says before she’s slipping out of the room once more.

He closes his eyes with a sigh, making his way to his feet so that he can hurry up and put all the stupid jewelry they have laid out for him on. There’s a bunch of plain and simple rings set on top of the table, as well as two chains and so many bracelets it almost hurts his head to try and count them all.

It takes him a good two or three minutes to get them on, and he has to rush out when he hears Sakura yelling at everyone to get their shit together. Naruto’s nowhere to be seen, likely still trying to grab his bass, but the rest of them are standing by the door, fully dressed and ready to go. Sakura stares at him like she’s trying to repress a laugh. “Did you raid a stripper’s closet for those?” She asks him, twirling her drumsticks between expert fingers. He doesn’t reply, only scowls as a way of response. Her green eyes narrow at him before she says, “We’re waiting on birdbrain.”

“And he wanted to come at _me_ about being late,” he mumbles under his breath, more to himself than anything, before Naruto’s appearing again, adjusting the strap hooked to his bass. He looks up at him, and there isn’t even a split second between the blank expression on his face and the shit eating grin that replaces it. 

“Woahhhh,” He says, leaning back on his heels. “You sure you’re Sasuke?”

Sasuke glares at him, instinctively reaching to pull his coat a little tighter around him. “I will knock you out, Naruto. We can do it with one less bassist.” Naruto feigns offense and dramatically places the back of his hand to his forehead with a drawn out sigh.

Naruto doesn’t get the chance to respond before Sakura’s calling for their attention, nodding them in the direction of the door. Shikamaru and Sai go first, then Ino and Sakura, and Sasuke turns to face Naruto, his frown disappearing as he raises a brow. “You ready, dumbass?” He asks, and all Naruto gives him is a giant smile, nodding his head.

“More ready than you are, asshole.”

He bites back his retort, whipping around and walking on stage. He feels Naruto’s presence behind him, even if he can’t see him, or anything else for that matter. The lights are dimmed enough for them to see where they need to stand, but that’s about it. Naruto falls into place just a few inches to his left, hands falling into place on his bass, and Sasuke reaches for the microphone.

Someone raised the lights in that moment, brought the entirety of the crowd to cheers as Sasuke forced himself to smile. The mic was already on as he held it in front of himself. 

He’d demanded that their concerts stayed casual, even after they’d gotten popular. Back when they were doing lame gigs in bars and small venues, he’d kept things relaxed, made everything feel pretty simple. He’d even gone into the crowd quite a few times, though after someone had gotten just a little too touchy he’d stopped doing it as much. He wanted that to stay the same even if they got famous.

Shows started the same every time; Sasuke would ask the crowd how they’re doing, maybe a few other simple questions, while Naruto got his bass connected and Shikamaru, Ino, and Sai all got their stuff ready. 

The crowd is always eager to reply, the volume of it all enough to hurt his ears, especially considering the fact that he’s been friends with Naruto his entire life, and he was even fucking louder on stage than he was off stage. 

Beside him, Naruto’s smiling, his head tipped back slightly as he takes in the crowd. “You ready?” He whispers to him, plucking at the strings of his bass absentmindedly. 

Sasuke gives him a short nod, and the Naruto’s strumming away, fingers back and forth in a way that he can barely process properly. He wills himself to focus his attention on the crowd again, taking a deep breath before he starts to sing without another thought, as if the words are second nature now. 

Shows are always a blur most of the time, except for those stupid moments where Sasuke’s forced to get _too_ up close and personal with Naruto. He knows it’s just to rile up fans, something they’ve done for the past two years, but it still irks him at the way that Naruto will grab him just a little too tightly, or will watch him just a little too intensely.

He’s almost used to it by now. _Almost_. Not quite, but he’s getting there, so when Naruto slips a hand over his shoulder, he knows to lower his mic, lean forward and play into it. 

Naruto’s warm against his now bare skin, the coat he’d been wearing discarded elsewhere. He felt almost naked with the complete lack of clothing, but the thought was pushed to the back of his head by everything else going on.

Sasuke tries to ignore how he can feel Naruto’s hands on him everywhere, can feel his fingertips catching on the holes of his top as he drags his hand down to his lower back. He pushes the urge to pull away down, just forces himself to play along.

There’s a weird feeling that blooms in his chest when Naruto kisses him, all too roughly as fingers tangle in the hair at the back of his head. The incessant cheering from people in the crowd barely registers, just mingling in the puddle of thoughts that’s his brain in that moment.

Naruto pulls away, pressing his forehead to Sasukes as he pulls a hand away to return to his bass. His blue eyes are staring at him, and he’s grinning like no god damn tomorrow. 

He hates doing this. He doesn’t know why he ever agreed to it in the first place.

The lingering taste of Naruto on his tongue stays with him even days after shows. It doesn’t go away. Neither does the feeling of Naruto’s hands on him where he’d never even considered letting anyone else touch him. He’d wanted things to _stay_ that way, but what the hell would Naruto and the others say if he’d told them no to the proposition simply because he didn’t want to be touched? He was twenty three now; what kind of twenty three year old didn’t want to be touched? Especially one who was fucking _famous_.

He watches Naruto pull away, tries to stop himself from moving to wrap his arms around himself and instead brings the mic closer to his face to resume singing again. He’s sweating, feels disgustingly warm despite the cold and all of his exposed skin. Naruto’s eyes are closed as he moves, looking free and so comfortable that Sasuke’s almost jealous. He’s into it, the music, the energy, the jeering from the crowd that’s probably only boosting his ego at this point. 

It seems right, fits him.

Sasuke’s brought back to attention by the sound of Sakura calling to him, loud enough for him to hear over all the noise but not loud enough for anyone other than everyone on stage to hear. “Get it together, Sasuke.”

He forces his consciousness back into his body, walking across the open space as he recites the lyrics from memory. He’s back to back with Naruto again, tilting his head back as Naruto leans into him. 

When they turn to face each other, Naruto’s breathing heavy, eyes wide as he smiles and goes in on his part, a small solo that Sasuke had fit into one of their songs when writing it upon his request. 

The fluorescent lighting makes his usually tanned skin look pale, illuminating the scars on his face, and his make up is thoroughly messed up, eyeliner smeared and his formerly vibrant eyeshadow dull. 

Naruto looks him dead in the eyes, standing so close to he’s barely got any room to move his hands, but he seems to make it work. Sasuke reaches up to brush Naruto’s hair from his face, his bangs now loose and sticking to his forehead with sweat after the clips he’d had in his hair had long since been lost. 

He hears Naruto finish off his solo, too focused on staring him down as he swings his bass around and to the side so that he can press forward and kiss him again without it in the way. His chest tightens around the small breath he’d taken, arm slipping around his neck as he pulls away. Hands reach behind him to grab at his ass and it damn near makes him sick, but it’s their last song, thankfully. He doesn’t think he can kiss Naruto again.

Sasuke knows that he doesn’t really have a choice.


	2. Chapter 2

Backstage is silent after the show - it always is. They aren’t free to get changed just yet, seeing as they’ve got another meet and greet type of thing they have to do, but after that they’ll get back onto their tour bus and head back to their hotel. 

It isn’t due to start for another ten or fifteen minutes while another area of the place is set up and people who paid for those specific tickets would go, so he takes a minute to take some painkillers to help with his headache and drinks a little bit of water to wash it down.

Sakura walks into his room, arms crossed over her chest. “You look extra tired today? Everything okay?” He cranes his neck to look over his shoulder at her, not letting his face reveal anything. Her green eyes are narrowed just slightly as him, like she’s studying his demeanor, but then she says, “We got about five minutes till the meet and greet. Don’t be an ass to Naruto, huh?” It’s meant as a light, teasing jab, but it almost agitates him to think about he’s going to have to deal with Naruto’s touches again for likely the next hour. 

Sasuke just forces himself to nod, doesn’t turn back around until Sakura’s gone and the door and slipping closed behind her. He didn’t have his jacket with him anymore, the exposed skin of his arms and legs freezing in the cold. 

Gritting his teeth, he slips his phone into the back pocket of his shorts and goes after Sakura, completely ignoring Naruto and the others as he starts to make his way out. He’d rather get there a minute or two early, he normally always does, just for the sake of getting things settled with security and all of the people hired to run everything. 

By the time he finds one of them and gives them the rundown, Naruto and Ino are coming up behind him, Naruto throwing an arm over Sasuke’s shoulder. “Let’s go,” He says with a smile, tugging him away from the guard and over to the hall where everyone else is.

It’s full, not _too_ full, but full enough for him to feel just a little bit claustrophobic. There’s a slightly raised stage coming from one wall, the rest of the floor covered in people of ranging appearances and ages. They clap whenever he and Naruto walk onto stage together, and Sasuke makes sure he hides the grimace on his face before anyone can see.

Sakura takes the mic, greeting the crowd with a warm smile. “Just like usual, we wanna talk to you guys. Ask us questions, you know?” Almost immediately there’s a hand raising high in the air from the center of the crowd.

Sasuke knows exactly what the question is going to be already; they’re asked the same thing every time, and each time it’s always Naruto who gives a small laugh and shrugs his shoulders. The girl’s eyes drift over to where he’s standing, Naruto’s arm around him as he leans into him. “For you two!” She pauses and smiles. “Are you two together?” 

The question irks him, makes him want to crawl out of his own skin, but he swallows around the lump in his throat and smiles instead. Naruto doesn’t look at him as he easily responds, “I guess you could call it that.” 

His answer is open to interpretation, could be taken in quite a few different ways depending on which way you looked at it. The girl cocks her head in curiosity. “What’s that mean?” 

Sasuke speaks up this time and shrugs. “Whatever you want it to,” He says indifferently as he slips his hand into the one that’s hanging over his shoulder. There’s mumbling amongst everyone, the occasional giggle or gaps audible from the people who are closest to the front. 

Naruto interjects before he can continue. “Maybe if Sasuke would give in, I could call it official,” he teases, and Sasuke _definitely_ hates the way that his chest tightens at that. He keeps the shock from showing on his face, just subtly squeezes Naruto’s hand a little too tightly as a warning, and Sakura saves them from the situation. 

“Keep the questions coming,” She says, before anything else can be said, and a few more hands go up.

Most of the time, the questions are directed towards him and Naruto, normally invasive questions about their relationship with each other. A few get shot at the others pretty often, too. A lot of the younger girls ask Sakura and Ino about their style and talk to them about stuff along those lines, and Shikamaru and Sai usually get a lot of questions about playing their instruments and predominantly music related shit. It leaves Sasuke and Naruto alone to play off subtle touches and whispers as if they really _are_ together, even if deep down he knows that both him and Naruto would rather rip each other's throats out in those moments.

They learned to hide it well, pretty quickly at that. Naruto covered up his discomfort with overbearing laughter and big grins that just barely manage to reach his eyes., and Sasuke just kept his face blank almost always, only letting a forced smile slip through when he felt it was necessary. 

The rest of the band normally helped them whenever it got out of control or started to become too much, which was normally only ever during meet and greets and rarely ever on stage. Keeping this kind of thing up was much simpler when he could keep his attention on singing, whenever concerts passed by in a blur of heat and _Naruto_ that made him nauseous. 

He hears Ino answer a question, tucking a strand of her platinum hair behind her ear before placing her hands on her hips. “Of course! I didn’t join the band until a few years after it’d been started. Same with Shika and Sai over there,” She points. “Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura here had been the ones to get everything together originally.”

Sakura chimes in with a slight nod then. “It had been Sasuke’s idea, really. Peabrain over there just got dragged into it,” Sakura snickers, and Naruto fakes offense with a hurt sigh. 

“You dare discredit me?” He says a little too loudly, and Sasuke resists the urge to flinch away. “If it weren’t for me-”

“Anyways,” Sakura cuts him off, her smile obvious. He listens to her as she continues once more. “Sasuke had originally wanted to go solo when he’d brought it up to me, but we both had our interest in music, same with Naruto, so we figured we’d give it a shot. Never thought we’d end up here, but hey, expect the unexpected, right?” 

Sasuke makes the decision to continue with what Sakura had started, releasing Naruto’s hand as he reaches down to tug at the hem of his top. “Not to reveal too much, but I’ve actually been thinking about going solo again,” He says softly, but even with the dull chattering and voices of everyone in the room, his voice is still audible. “Not to say I’ll be leaving the band all together, but I think I might work on an album of my own. I’d like to get to explore my own music, you know?” 

There’s a mass murmur of agreement from the crowd. “Do you think you’ll stick with the same genre? Or is your own music something completely different from the band’s?” Someone asks from up front, a boy with unnaturally bleached white hair and a sharp looking smile that reminded him of Naruto.

“Well, I do write all of our music,” Sasuke explains simply, starting to grow irritated with the heat of Naruto pressing so close to him. “Naruto helps me sometimes, and Sakura too, but it’s mostly me. My music would be pretty similar, but I don’t know if you would call it the same as the band’s.” He hesitates for a moment, slipping out of Naruto’s arms and walking over to where Sakura’s standing. “I’ve been piecing stuff together for a while now. Who knows? I might sample a song at one of our next shows.”

It wasn’t a lie. He’d been working for months to get something together. He wasn’t sure _what_ he wanted to do with his music, or whether he’d stick to just one single genre. To him, it was meant to be free, something ambiguous, open to interpretation and able to fit into more than just one label. 

He would sing or write however he felt like singing or writing. A label wasn’t something that he wanted.

Sakura reaches for her phone, checking the time and giving a small sigh into the mic. “It’s about time we start _actually_ meeting you guys, so that’ll be the last question,” she says quietly, before clicking the mic off and returning it to it’s stand. When she turns to face the others, she eyes him and Naruto in particular. 

A guard comes over to them, gives them a quick briefing on how it’s going to work. It’s the same as usual, a few people get to come up on stage at a time, take pictures, talk for a few moments, and whatever else. It was easy enough

Sasuke doesn’t have the energy to actively put effort into much. He tries to keep up conversation, answering some questions from some of the fans, gives them hugs when they ask, but right _now_ , in these clothes, he doesn’t even want to be out in public. He’s cold, can feel everyone’s hands on him no matter where they’re touching him. He’d prefer Naruto’s touch over theirs any day, if only because he was familiar with him. Knew that it was just an act. Sometimes it just felt _wrong_ with the fans.

The next group of people to walk up seem almost familiar. It’s likely they’d met before, but if they had, Sasuke had no vivid memory of who exactly they were. The girl with the longer black hair and the pale gray eyes walked up first, her face flushed red as she came over. She eyed Naruto, and then him, eyes shifting between them, before she quietly greeted them. “Um, hi!” She says softly, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. “My friends and I have come to meet you guys before, but it’s been a little while, so I doubt you remember us.”

Naruto shakes his head, staring down at her. “No, uhh,” He pauses, pressing a finger to his chin as he thinks. “You’re Hinata, right?”

Hearing her name seems to jog a memory in Sasuke’s brain, has him recalling meeting her a good year or two ago. She’d been awfully awkward the whole time, watching him and Naruto carefully as he’d wrapped arms around him and looking oddly agitated with Sasuke.

It wasn’t surprising, nor was it the first time, that one of them had gotten a few glares, especially when it came to him and Naruto specifically. He’d accepted that there would be a few people that would get jealous or cross boundaries. It came along with being a part of a band, especially one that was aimed towards college students that were all their age. 

The girl’s eyes widened when she realized that Naruto remembered her, wringing her hands in front of herself as she avoided looking him in the eyes. “Yeah! Actually. I’m surprised you remember, especially since you guys meet so many people so often-” 

Naruto shrugs, as if remembering who she is out of the good thousand plus people that they’ve met was just something minor. It seems like Sakura remembers her, too. She actually calls her over, striking up a conversation.

Sasuke doesn’t listen to the specifics, focuses his attention on the girl’s friends who are talking casually with Ino, Naruto, and Sai. 

He feels a hand slip around his shoulders again, and then he’s being pulled over to where Naruto’s standing, tripping over his feet and just barely catching himself when he falls into Naruto’s chest. “Shit- _Sorry_ ,” he apologizes quickly and bites down on his tongue whenever Naruto slides a hand to the bare skin of his lower back. Sasuke pulls away from him slowly, takes a deep breath when he straightens out, but the arm wrapped around him doesn’t leave, just pulls him into Naruto’s side. 

“Get this, Sasuke,” Naruto starts enthusiastically. “This guy Kiba here used to go to school with us back when we were kids! I don’t remember much from back then, but it seems like we were all pretty good friends. I think we should all hang out, you know? Hinata went to school with us too, actually.” Thinking about having to hang around her and her soft spoken stutter, her pale gray eyes that seem to only soften when they’re looking at Naruto, makes Sasuke’s skin itch with agitation. 

Light fingertips brush the bare skin of his hips, teasingly gentle, and Sasuke hates the way his body shivers out of his control. “Sounds great,” He responds quietly, letting his eyes graze over Kiba and the other boy with them 

Kiba gives him a sharp smile, the corners of his dark eyes bending around the gesture. “Sorry I don’t quite remember everyone. I don’t have the best memory,” Naruto laughs, reaching up to scratch at the back of his head. “I am a little curious why we all fell out though!”

Sasuke nods along with him. “We should get everyone’s numbers and make some plans when our tour’s over. We’ve got one last show before we head back home, and we’ll be free after that,” he pretends to be nice, even if deep down he wants nothing more than to return to their bunks on their tour bus and take a good long nap. “Any of you guys skate or anything? Shikamaru and I always go together. The others tag along pretty often, so you guys could join next time.”

They keep the conversation casual after that, only allowed to talk for another minute or two before they all have to take photos and Kiba, Hinata, and their friend have to go.

Sasuke doesn’t pick up on the other guy’s name before he tunes everybody else out. They take one big group photo with them, with Sasuke standing in front of Naruto, his arms wrapped around him as he rests his chin on his shoulder. The Hinata girl is just to their right with her other friend, Sakura, and Ino, standing uncomfortably close, and Kiba’s to their left with Shikamaru and Sai. The picture’s taken quickly, and then they’re disappearing off of the stage and the next group of people are walking up.

After that it’s mostly a blur of Naruto and touchy fans and half assed conversations. He feels guilty about it sometimes, with the way he never fully puts his energy into these kinds of things. He tries his best not to show it, but he never has the _energy_ after shows to really try, especially if he and Naruto had done just a bit too much on stage to mentally tire him out. 

By the time everything’s over and settling down, Sasuke’s packing back up and carrying his stuff out to the bus. It’s dark out, past one a.m. by now, and the cold makes him damn near want to cry as he walks through the empty lot. Naruto’s already on the bus, stretched out across one of the couches and taking up almost the entire space. He gives Sasuke a sideways glance as he enters, slipping through the tight space back to where their beds are. “You look awfully pissy,” Naruto quips with a small grin, and Sasuke bites back the insult that rises in his throat when he returns to take a seat across from him.

“I’m _cold_ , you asshole, and tired, and agitated,” Sasuke crosses his arms over his chest, slumping down and trying to curl in on himself. “Don’t you have anything better to do?” He asks, flicking his gaze over to Sakura and Ino as they walk onto the bus, laughing and smiling at each other. They don’t acknowledge Sasuke or Naruto, just taking a seat on the couch beside Sasuke together. 

Sakura lets Ino lean onto her shoulder and slips an arm around her to hold her a little closer. She finally seems to notice the cold glare that Sasuke’s aiming in Naruto’s direction. “What’s the problem now?” She sighs, sounding exhausted.

“There is no _problem_ -” Naruto starts, but Sasuke interrupts him with a groan.

“He’s being an ass.”

She pauses, glancing between the two of them carefully. “He’s always being an ass,” She states simply, and the dismissal only serves to make him angrier. “You look tired,” Sakura whispers to him, her free hand moving to rest on his bare thigh. “Go get changed and sleep.” Her touch is soft, much more warranted than Naruto’s or anyone else’s ever is, and it helps to ease the agitation seeping into his veins. 

Sasuke gives her a short nod, forcing himself to stand and walk to the back. His beds up top, almost always a pain in the ass to reach whenever he was this tired, but he made it work, throwing his phone and every other loose item up there first and then kicking himself up off of the bed beneath him to pull himself up. 

When he finally settles down, blanket pulled high over his chest to keep himself warm, it doesn’t take him that long to fall asleep.


End file.
